A Conservative councillor who defected to Reform UK said he was called a "fascist" and a "racist" for joining Nigel Farage's party.

Thomas Kerr was elected as a Conservative member of Glasgow City Council in 2017, when he was just 20-years-old.

After growing disillusioned with the party, he defected to in January - and, despite the backlash, said he doesn't regret the decision.

Mr Kerr denied claims that he only joined Reform because he had been promised a spot on its regional list for the 2026 Holyrood elections.

The politician told Holyrood Magazine that he had been called "everything under the sun, from a fascist to a racist" after joining Farage's ranks but was driven to switch parties after the Scottish abandoned "policy positions" and began "[fitting] into whatever way the wind was blowing".

A source from the Scottish Conservatives told the media that Mr Kerr had been promised "top of the Glasgow list" by Reform in next year's elections, "which he wouldn't have got near in our party".

Recent YouGov polling suggests Reform is on track to pick up several seats next year, and could even oust the SNP to take home the biggest vote share.

Mr Kerr described the allegation as "hurtful" and insisted he had joined Reform on an ideological basis, describing the party as "a mechanism for people to let out their anger about where the world is at the moment".

He also offered a taste of the growing appetite for the party in Scotland, comparing Conservative branch meetings - consisting of "six people and a dog" - to around 60 at Reform's equivalent.

"There were young men and women, all different ethnicities, and when you speak to them, they are not all Tory and Labour defectors," he said. "A lot of them are people who have never been involved politically."

It comes after accused of "desperation" when the Prime Minister suggested Reform was promoting "dangerous right-wing politics" in a speech at the Scottish Labour Conference last week.

Starmer warned that Labour, which has dropped in the polls in line with unpopular Westminster policies, including the scrapping of winter fuel payments, should be ready to combat the growing threat posed by Reform.

He suggested that the party's "dangerous" policies were concealed by claims that it served the "interests of working people", prompting an outraged response by its leader.

"The Prime Minister must be getting desperate," the MP for Clacton said. "[His] disastrous budget kicks in on April 1 and will cost even more jobs in Scotland because of his national insurance contribution rises imposed on businesses."